1. Field of Invention
This invention elates to fuel pressure regulators in general and more particularly to a floating ball regulator wherein the ball which closes the valve can orientate itself to provide accurate sealing.
2. Summary of the Invention
U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,463, entitled "Fuel Pressure Regulator", issued on Dec. 9, 1986 discloses a fuel pressure regulator comprising a housing, a diaphragm dividing the housing into a first chamber and a second chamber, a passage from the exterior of the housing to the first chamber, an inlet and an outlet associated with the second chamber of the housing, and a valve seat associated with the outlet. A cage is mounted on and movable with the diaphragm and a spring within the first chamber yieldingly urges the cage toward the valve seat. The cage supports a pair of plates which retain a valve ball. The first plate has an opening though which a portion of the ball projects and a second plate retains the first plate and the ball within the cage. The first plate is movable laterally to provide for proper centering of the ball in the valve seat. A light spring extends between the cage and the ball to urge the ball against the first plate. The fuel flows into the first chamber, through the ball valve portion and out through a passage from the first chamber. It is not a flow through pressure regulator.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,360, entitled "Fuel Pressure Regulator" is more compact, easier to assemble and less costly fuel pressure regulator than that of U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,463. This regulator does not utilize a ball to function as a valve member and is not a flow through pressure regulator.
Prior Art U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,729 entitled "Fuel Pressure Regulator Valve", issued on May 29, 1990, 4,991,556 entitled "Automotive Fuel Rail Assemblies with Integral Means for Mounting Fuel Regulator", issued on Feb. 12, 1991, 5,002,030 entitled "Fuel Rail Assemblies for Internal Combustion Engines", issued on Mar. 26, 1991, and 5, 076,320 entitled "Fuel Rail Mounted Fuel Pressure Regulator" and issued on Dec. 31, 1991, all teach the mounting of a fuel pressure regulator on a fuel rail assembly for the purpose of regulating the pressure of the fuel that is supplied to the injectors. The pressurized fuel that is delivered to the fuel rail is pumped from a fuel tank through a fuel supply conduit and the excess fuel is returned from the fuel pressure regulator's return port through a fuel return conduit to the fuel tank. These types of systems are classified as a return type system. The fuel pressure regulator is referenced to engine intake manifold vacuum so that the regulated pressure across the fuel injectors is essentially insensitive to changes in the manifold vacuum. None of the aforementioned fuel pressure regulators are flow through regulators in as much as one of the typically 2 chambers is a pressure referenced chamber which is usually connected to manifold vacuum and remains dry.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/269,406 entitled "Flow Through Fuel Pressure Regulator" and 08/239,665 entitled "Flow Through Fuel Regulator", are both assigned to the common assignee as is this application. Both of these applications are directed to a pressure regulator that is typically mounted in the fuel tank and are used in what is basically classified as a returnless fuel system. In each of these, the fuel that flows through the pressure regulator is supplied to a fuel filter and from there to the fuel rail for distribution to the fuel injectors. The present fuel pressure regulator is much simpler in construction and is therefore much less expensive to manufacture.
Fuel pressure regulator as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,463 has the fuel inlet and fuel outlet in the same housing chamber. In order to maintain the valve actuator, this regulator requires two washers, one of which is crimped into place and the other is retained by the first washer and has both axial and radial movement. In this patent there is no means to adjust the radial movement of the valve actuator which is a ball member. The axial movement is totally a function of the part tolerances. In conventional regulators, the adjustment for axial movement is by varying the crimping force on the member which locates and holds the valve actuator. In this manner, the tolerance stack-ups of the various parts of the regulator are taken into account. This additional washer results in additional tolerances resulting in additional axial movement; increases cost and complicates manufacture. In order to seat the valve actuator, which is a ball, this device requires a cage with a central post providing a point contact with the ball. The location of the post, well inside the cage, provides difficulty in machining the post surface. A small biasing spring must be assembled around the post and in the cage. The outside diameter of the post supports and retains the spring through the spring inside diameter and in assembling the regulator, care must be taken to assure that the spring is properly installed and not sitting off center or cocked in the cage pocket.
In order to solve the problems of the prior art flow through regulators, the present flow through regulator uses a pocket to house a ball, spring and a ball retainer means allowing axial and radial ball movement. The first bias means which is a small basing spring just falls into the pocket and therefore can not be off center or cocked when it biases the ball away from the bottom of the pocket.
In addition, the pocket for holding and locating the ball is not as expensive to manufacture and assemble as the prior art cages. This is because the tolerances for the manufacture are not as tight as in the prior art cages.
The ball valve actuator is much simpler to design and use than any flat surface valve actuator whether it be a flat on spherical member, or a flat plate.